This 2.5-hour walking and boat tour explores Bordeaux’s complex past as one of France’s main slave-trading ports. Starting at the Quai des Chartrons, once the hub of merchant activity, you’ll learn how nearly 500 slave expeditions were armed here.

Stroll past the sober façades and elegant interiors of the merchants’ houses and hôtels particuliers, symbols of fortunes built on sugar, coffee, and colonial trade.

At the Place du Palais and Place de la Bourse, discover how Bordeaux turned to Atlantic commerce in the 17th century and financed its grand 18th-century architecture through slavery-linked wealth. See the merchant mansions like Hôtel Fenwick, once home to the first U.S. consulate in France, highlighting Bordeaux’s transatlantic ties.

At the Slave Memorial on Quai Louis XVIII, reflect on the 150,000 people deported through Bordeaux expeditions, with moving words from Aimé Césaire and Victor Schoelcher. Finally, board a riverboat on the Garonne, the artery of colonial trade, and admire the monumental waterfront from the water—the very stage of Bordeaux’s prosperity and its darkest history. This is both a historical journey and a memorial experience, blending commerce, culture, and remembrance.